With continued inflation, there has been a steady increase in the cost of automobiles. Further, with increases in the cost of automobiles and the cost of automobile repairs, there has been a steady increase in the cost of automobile insurance. One factor which has contributed greatly to the overall cost of automobile insurance is the problem of automobile theft.
An automobile can be stolen by a skilled thief in a matter of minutes or even seconds even though the automobile is, for all intents and purposes, securely locked. A thief may first gain access to the automobile passenger compartment by inserting a wire through the rubber molding which surrounds the automobile door or the automobile window. The ignition switch may, then, be bypassed by an operation known as "hot wiring." Further, if there is a lock on the steering wheel, the lock may be broken by giving the steering wheel a severe twist. The automobile may then be driven away to a secluded place where it is stripped so that very little remains of the automobile except a shell.
Due to the ease with which automobiles may be stolen by a professional, the theft of automobiles has become big business. Further, even in those cases where an automobile is recovered by the police, the automobile may be stripped so that it has little resemblance to the original automobile.
As stated, an automobile may be stolen by a professional in a matter of minutes or even seconds. To successfully avoid detection, it is important to the thief that the job can be carried off quickly. The threat of detection may increase tremendously as the amount of time required for the theft is increased. Thus, if theft of an automobile can be made sufficiently difficult, the automobile may be theft-proof since no thief in his right mind would take the risks involved in a lengthy theft procedure.